Ghoul School Revisited
by Martial Arts Master
Summary: Disregard my "Quail" fic for this to make sense. Shaggy decides to introduce Daphne, Fred, and Velma to his old friends, the Grimwood Girls and their ghoul school. They'll meet a few new students, and face danger---not from the monsters, but from bigoted
1. Shaggy's POV

Ghoul School -- Revisited: Shaggy's POV  
  
by Martial Arts Master  
  
Scooby-Doo and all related characters copyrighted by Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network. However, I need to add a little note: at the very end of the "Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School" movie, there were some new students introduced to Grimwood, which caused Scooby and Shaggy to run out. These students were a Martian's daughter, the daughter of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and the daughter of Godzilla. I made up the names for them, for they will be appearing in this fic. This fanfic takes place after the "Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School" movie, and it also takes place a long time after Scrappy-Doo left the gang. I haven't decided yet whether to let the events of the Scooby Doo live-action movie happen before this fic or not. You'll get more information about that in a later chapter. Anyway, the reason I wrote this fanfiction was because "Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School" was my absolute favorite Scooby-Doo movie, and although I've already written a fic with the Grimwood Girls in it called "Quail", my writing skills have improved since then, and I wanted to try to write a fic that would really do the Grimwood Girls justice. You'll have to completely disregard my "Quail" fic for this to make sense. Now, on with the fanfiction!  
  
***  
  
The Mystery Inc. gang was relaxing on the beach. They had just solved yet _another_ case of an invading monster who---surprise---turned out to be a crook in disguise who wanted to scare everyone away.  
  
Frankly, Shaggy Rogers, also known as Norville (but don't call him Norville if you don't want him mad at you), who was relaxing in a beach chair, was getting rather tired of it. Almost every case they'd taken was similar to each other in basic format. Monster attacks, everyone runs like heck, monster is caught, unmask, yada yada yada. Actually, Shaggy was wondering why he and his best pal, Scooby-Doo, constantly ran away every time they encountered a monster, if previous experience had taught them that such monsters weren't really monsters.  
  
Shaggy paused to look at the seagulls flying over the horizon. Sometimes, Shaggy thought, his gang never really took that much time out to relax anymore. It was always case, case, case.  
  
He paused to take a bite out of his hot dog...only he didn't have his hot dog anymore for some reason. Shaggy looked irritably at Scooby, giving him a glare. Scooby was in the process of eating the hot dog when he paused, looked at Shaggy guiltily, and gave him what was left.  
  
Shaggy took the hot dog and munched the rest of it down. Then, Shaggy looked at Daphne Blake, another fixture in the Mystery Inc. gang, swimming in the ocean. Shaggy thought about what Daphne had been like as a kid. As a kid, Daphne had been a spoiled brat, because of her immense wealth. (Author's Note: This is a reference to the "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" series.)  
  
Now, however, Daphne had matured into a responsible, level-headed young lady.  
  
Still lost in his pondering, Shaggy next looked at Fred Jones, who was building a sand castle. Fred Jones had been rather flaky as a child, being a reporter for a totally ridiculous tabloid called the National Exaggerator. Fred Jones would believe anything. He constantly raved on and on about the Martians, or the Moon people, or some other such nonsense.  
  
Now, though, Fred Jones had grown up to be the leader of the gang, being the one with ideas on what to do.  
  
Finally, Shaggy looked over at Velma Dinkly, who was lying in a beach chair next to him. Velma Dinkly, as a child, had been without question the smartest one of the gang. She had also been introverted, but very nice. Frankly, Velma hadn't really changed much upon growing up into an adult. However, Velma had improved on her social life since then.  
  
Shaggy sighed to himself. He really couldn't ask for better friends, anyway. They had grown up together, and now they solved mysteries together.  
  
Still, doing the same thing over and over again _was_ getting boring.  
  
Shaggy was a coward, but he wasn't so much of a coward that he wasn't willing to try new things. I'm sure that you readers have experienced the doldrums once in a while. It's a feeling of total boredom combined with the unwillingness to do anything about it.  
  
Well, Shaggy did want to do something about it, but he wasn't sure what.  
  
"Hey Shaggy, come swimming with me!" Daphne called, in an attempt to get Shaggy to do something.  
  
Shaggy sighed, and then got up from his beach chair, heading towards the water. Well, it was something to do, anyway.  
  
However, there was a sudden gust of wind, and a newspaper blew into his face. Obviously, Shaggy thought to himself, somebody had tossed this newspaper onto the beach because they were done with it. It really was a careless example of littering. Shaggy sighed in irritation, and pulled the newspaper off his face, glancing in it to read. It was really not very interesting after all. Mostly some information about stocks, yet another article about the US occupation in Iraq (which Shaggy had been against), some grisly murders in a state hundreds of miles away...  
  
And then Shaggy's eyes widened. There was an article in it about a school that Shaggy hadn't seen in _years_. It was called the Grimwood Finishing School for Girls. Shaggy and Scooby-Doo, and a previous member of their gang called Scrappy-Doo, had used their little-known qualifications as gym instructors to come to the school to teach gym class. What they hadn't realized, but soon got a rude awakening about, was that the Grimwood Girls were really _ghouls_. They had consisted of: Sybella, the daughter of Dracula; Winnie, the daughter of the Werewolf, Elsa, the daughter of Frankenteen (a name that apparently Frankenstein's monster had decided to call himself); Phantasma, the daughter of the Phantom; and Tanis, the daughter of the Mummy. It had been one of the few occasions in Shaggy's life that he had met _real_ monsters. Shaggy had at first been frightened of the Grimwood Girls, but had eventually grown to love them after a terrifying adventure with Revolta, the Witch of the Web.  
  
However, new students had eventually shown up at the school, and Shaggy and Scooby had panicked, dragging Scrappy away.  
  
The article in question was about an upcoming dodgeball event against Calloway Military Academy. Calloway was the rival school of the Grimwood Girls, consisting of humans instead of monsters. When Shaggy had been Grimwood, the girls had been training for a volleyball match against them. The trouble is that the Grimwood Girls had _never won before_ against them. Surprisingly, thanks to the training of Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy, the Grimwood Girls had won their match against Calloway for the very first time, finally being able to claim the trophy. The Calloway Cadets had actually come in handy later when the girls needed an escape from Revolta's Castle.  
  
But now, according to the article, Colonel Calloway, the headmaster of the academy, had taken his loss at volleyball bitterly, changing the annual event to dodgeball instead.  
  
Shaggy paused to wonder why this article would appear in the newspaper...until he noticed the title, and realized that it was a newspaper from the specific area that Grimwood and Calloway were in.  
  
Then, Shaggy thought of an absolutely wonderful idea. Freddy, Daphne, and Velma had never met the Grimwood Girls. What was to stop Shaggy and Scooby from showing them the school? Shaggy and Scooby could catch up on old times, and Freddy, Daphne, and Velma could make some new friends.  
  
"Hey guys! Come over here, I wanna tell you something!" Shaggy called to all his friends.  
  
Immediately everyone ran towards Shaggy and Scooby, looking at him quizzically. Daphne looked rather ticked off that her swim had been interrupted.  
  
"Okay, Shaggy, this better be good; I was getting a good workout!" Daphne told Shaggy.  
  
And thus, Shaggy and Scooby related their previous adventures at the Grimwood Girls school. This, however, evoked a response that Shaggy and Scooby had not expected. Their friends began to laugh at them...and laugh...and _laugh_...  
  
"A school for monster girls! Ha, that's a good one!" Fred exclaimed, although not really intending to be mean. After all, Fred was not exactly a mean kind of guy. He simply didn't realize how insensitive he was being by inadvertantly saying that Shaggy made it up.  
  
"Guys, you know there's no such thing as monsters," Velma exclaimed through her mirth. "Obviously you really did see monster girls, but they were probably dressed up in costumes.  
  
"Rut rey ate rungus rudge and roadstool rea!" Scooby said indignantly, actually meaning "But they ate fungus fudge and toadstool tea!"  
  
"Then how about we visit them, and you can see for yourself?" Shaggy asked, having suddenly come up with a solution to the problem.  
  
Freddy, Daphne, and Velma considered the idea. Well, it couldn't hurt, they were thinking. Truth be told, the idea of a school exclusively for monster girls sounded intriguing. And it was next to a military academy, too. Then, Velma suddenly thought of something.  
  
"Shaggy, since when were you certified as a gym instructor?" Velma asked Shaggy.  
  
"Since I went through training in college," Shaggy snapped.  
  
"Reah, rollege!" Scooby agreed, actually meaning "Yeah, college!"  
  
Daphne immediately pulled out her cell phone and, after inquiring Shaggy as to the phone number of Ms. Grimwood, the headmaster of Grimwood Finishing School for Girls, dialed the number into the cell phone. Then, Daphne placed the cell phone near her ear and paused, waiting for the person on the other end to pick up. Once a "Hello?" rang out, Daphne held the phone out so everyone could hear.  
  
"Hello, this is Ms. Grimwood, headmaster of Grimwood Finishing School for Girls, how may I help you?" the voice on the other end rattled off.  
  
Shaggy quickly snatched the cell phone away from Daphne, amid Daphne's protests.  
  
"Like hi, Ms. Grimwood, it's Shaggy Rogers," Shaggy told Ms. Grimwood.  
  
Immediately the voice on the other end of the phone brightened.  
  
"Oh, Shaggy Rogers, darling, how _wonderful_ it is to hear from you again!" Ms. Grimwood proclaimed on the other end of the cell phone. "How have you _been_? It's been so long since you were teaching here. My girls have missed you, and the new arrivals...or new a little before you left...regret not having benefited from your training. Why, may I ask, are you calling?"  
  
Now Fred Jones took the cell phone away from Shaggy.  
  
"Ms. Grimwood, this is Fred Jones, friend of Shaggy Rogers and Scooby-Doo," Fred said to the voice on the other end. "I, Daphne Blake, and Velma Dinkly thought that we might come and visit the Grimwood Finishing School for Girls and meet the students that Shaggy just told us about."  
  
Shaggy snatched the phone back from Fred.  
  
"What he _means_," Shaggy said curtly, "is that it was my idea. I read an article in the newspaper about your upcoming dodgeball game, and I thought that we could watch."  
  
"Why that would be _wonderful_, darling," enthused the voice on the other end of the phone. "We already have a new gym teacher, but you could come as visitors. And I think the girls would just love to meet any friends of Shaggy Rogers and Scooby-Doo. What time shall I arrange your visit?"  
  
Everyone blinked. They hadn't expected such a quick agreement. Usually headmasters were busier than _that_. Of course, Grimwood was a rather small school, Shaggy thought, so maybe that had something to do with it.  
  
"Well, our Mystery Machine is close by," Shaggy said. "Why don't we come see you during the school day next Friday, and maybe we can stay a few days."  
  
"Let me check," said the voice on the other end. There was the sound of shuffling through papers in the background.  
  
"Perfect. We'll see you then," said the voice on the other end. "By all means, bring the whole gang. We'll have a splendid time!"  
  
Ms. Grimwood hung up.  
  
Then, Daphne burst out into more giggles.  
  
"Monster girls...ha..." Daphne choked out, still finding the idea of monster girls laughable.  
  
Shaggy grinned to himself. They would see...eventually...  
  
***  
  
To be continued...  
  
***  
  
Well, there's the introduction. You'll get to re-meet the actual Grimwood Girls later. In fact, you'll also get to meet the three new ones that were introduced at the end of the movie, and see what names I've picked out for them. E-mail all questions and comments to bleifer@comcast.net 


	2. Calloway and the Townspeople

Ghoul School -- Revisited: Calloway and the Townspeople  
  
by Martial Arts Master  
  
Scooby-Doo and all related characters copyrighted by Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network. However, I need to add a little note: at the very end of the "Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School" movie, there were some new students introduced to Grimwood, which caused Scooby and Shaggy to run out. These students were a Martian's daughter, the daughter of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and the daughter of Godzilla. I made up the names for them, for they will be appearing in this fic. This fanfic takes place after the "Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School" movie, and it also takes place a long time after Scrappy-Doo left the gang. I haven't decided yet whether to let the events of the Scooby Doo live-action movie happen before this fic or not. You'll get more information about that in a later chapter. Anyway, the reason I wrote this fanfiction was because "Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School" was my absolute favorite Scooby-Doo movie, and although I've already written a fic with the Grimwood Girls in it called "Quail", my writing skills have improved since then, and I wanted to try to write a fic that would really do the Grimwood Girls justice. You'll have to completely disregard my "Quail" fic for this to make sense. Now, on with the fanfiction!  
  
***  
  
The Calloway Military School was just that: a military school. It was run by a man named Colonel Calloway, a strict taskmaster. The school was for boys only, as this school still had old ideas of what made a man a man. It was, however, a good place to learn how to survive in tough conditions, however, and a place to increase leadership skills.  
  
This was the school that the Grimwood Finishing School for Girls faced off against in a volleyball match every year, and every year, the Grimwood School always lost. However, several years ago, at the time of the "Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School" movie, the Grimwood girls, for the first time _ever_, had defeated the Calloway school 21 to 20. Oddly enough, the victory was partially caused by the Calloway "cadets" themselves.  
  
The Calloway cadets had tried to cheat during the volleyball game, planting a remote control device in the ball and using a jet pack. However, in a freak ketchup accident, a dog named Scooby-Doo had ended up swallowing the device, and it worked against the cadets, who eventually lost the game.  
  
However, the recent loss to Grimwood had also been partially due to Shaggy Rogers's training methods. During the game, the Calloway Cadets had noticed that the girls had been performing better than the years before, using new skills such as Sybella the vampire girl turning into a bat, or Tanis the mummy girl throwing the ball with her bandages.  
  
Colonel Calloway had been bitter about the loss. Now I can't speak for you readers, but a lot of people, as children, are taught a very important saying: it's not if you win or lose, it's all how you play the game. Colonel Calloway, sadly, had never learned that saying, placing value on victory at all costs. Of course, this could also be because he was a colonel.  
  
Luckily, the cadets were in some respects more mature than the Colonel. In fact, when the Grimwood girls had been abducted by Revolta, the Witch of the Web, the cadets had initially refused to go after them. After Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy-Doo left to do so, the cadets had suffered an attack of conscience, remembering the Calloway code that embraced chivalry: always rescue damsels in distress. Admittedly, it was a sexist code. I told you this school embraced old ways.  
  
Thus, the cadets banded together and built a rescue helicopter, eventually being responsible for the heroes' and the girls' escape from Revolta's castle.  
  
But such events happened long ago, and now we must look beyond the reach of the "Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School" movie and look forward to the here and now.  
  
It was several years later, and eventually the Colonel, although now on _friendly_ terms with Ms. Grimwood ever since his first volleyball loss, was still bitter about the loss. Long ago, he had decided to change the game that the cadets and the girls would play.  
  
This game, my friends, was _dodgeball_. Colonel Calloway figured that because dodgeball was a contact sport, and since the Grimwood girls were not used to contact sports, the girls would lose miserably, restoring honor and glory to his prized Calloway Military School.  
  
From reading this, you might compare Colonel Calloway's cadets to mere privates fighting under an illustrious figure. However, don't forget that even the lowest-ranked soldiers have names, and they have their own distinct personalities, families, and backgrounds. So it is with the Calloway cadets. Because of Calloway's reputation for strictness and rigor, only five cadets had stuck with the school all the way through. Of course, other cadets had come into the school as well, but most either left the school knowing that they could not handle such training, or did moderately well but _not_ well enough that they were ever picked for the annual Grimwood vs. Calloway sport.  
  
Five cadets, and five cadets alone, had remained with this honor. Several years later than the movie, they are now a little older, and a little taller.  
  
First, there was cadet Tug Roper. Unfortunate first and last name pun aside, Tug had become the leader of the special five cadets, and he was descended from a host of Europeans. His most distinguishing feature was his blond hair, of a shade of light blond that reminded one of of a pad of post-it notes. Tug had so far performed well as a leader, organizing training sessions and of course, the retrieval mission to retrieve a volleyball that had been accidentally knocked into reach of Matches, the pet dragon of the Grimwood Finishing School for Girls. Admittedly, that particular mission had not gone well, but all in all, Tug was not performing badly.  
  
Next, there was cadet Jamal Williams. He was descended from Africans. He actually was taller than Tug, but tended to defer to him when decisions were to be made. It was he who had the best _skill_ among the cadets. It was he who could run fast, he who could reach high, and it was he who had invented, just for volleyball, a "behind-the-back pass attack". Jamal Williams was very neat and organized, keeping lists sometimes.  
  
Then, we have cadet Miguel. Miguel was descended from Spaniards. As Tug was the best leader, and Jamal had the most skill, Miguel was the smartest, in a particular way. Now of course, some of you readers may realize that intelligence is relative. For example, a particular person might be able to crunch numbers faster than a calculator, yet be completely clueless about analyzing an argument on a social issue. Or, a person might be able to paint like Leonardo Da Vinci, but when faced with the challenge of locating his or her own area on a world map, the person might not be able to complete the task. As you can see, there are many different kinds of intelligence.  
  
Miguel's particular brand of intelligence was of the technical kind. Miguel was excellent at either taking machines apart or putting them together. He was usually the one trusted to build a certain piece of equipment. Miguel had once ordered an army surplus water balloon bazooka and had been able to put it together, although due to to a small misunderstanding, he had inadvertantly and indirectly brought about the soaking of Tug and Colonel Calloway himself.  
  
Then there was cadet Grunt. Grunt was descended from Europeans as well as Tug, and was heavily and stockily built. Grunt possessed the most strength out of all five of the boys who participated in the annual sport event. He was the only one out of all five who could do push-ups with three sandbags on his back. Even had the other boys been able to perform such a feet, Grunt was the only one who could _enjoy_ such work. Grunt actively enjoyed physical exercise, and took steps to perform it frequently. His motto was the famous motto: no pain no gain.  
  
Finally, there was cadet Baxter. He was the shortest of the five, also descended from Europeans. He had a shock of red hair, and his particular strength was obedience. Baxter did not possess the resentment against authority that other boys his age might have had. To demonstrate this feat, when Colonel Calloway led the boys in a hike in rough terrain, Barren Bog to be exact, the other boys wanted to and succeeded in ditching the Colonel. Baxter alone had followed the Colonel closely, and this actually worked to his advantage. The other cadets had gotten themselves stuck in quicksand, and it took two Grimwood Girls to extricate them: Tanis, the mummy girl, and Elsa Frankenteen, the daughter of Frankenstein's monster. Actually, at the time, Tanis and Elsa were miffed that the boys did not consider swimming in quicksand "fun" like they did. Thus, the other boys finished their hike muddy and messy. Baxter, by following the Colonel more closely, had finished his hike in much better shape.  
  
However, it is time that we dispense with the introductions. Let us take a look at how the Calloways were preparing for the new dodgeball game...  
  
As it happens, the boys were training in the grass besides the dodgeball field, doing their own style of warm-ups. They were not being supervised by Colonel Calloway at the moment.  
  
"Dodgeball...I wonder if the Grimwood Girls will be any good at it," Tug wondered as he was doing sit-ups.  
  
Jamal was lifting weights as he pondered the answer.  
  
"To be honest, I have no idea," Jamal replied honestly. "I don't think they've ever played against us in anything except volleyball. I guess I could see two possible scenarios. One scenario is that the girls will be completely unable to adapt to a new sport, and we'll clean their clocks."  
  
"I'll say amen to that!" Grunt chortled, giving a thumbs up. A bar between two poles had been erected, and Grunt was doing chin-ups. However, giving his thumbs-up caused him to almost fall to the ground, before he gripped the bar again with his free hand.  
  
"Of course, the other scenario is that the girls will be even better at dodgeball than they were at volleyball, and we'll suffer another humiliating loss," Jamal finished.  
  
Baxter groaned at this. He was currently running laps around the field, and he was currently on his third lap. The field was sufficiently large enough that some might be panting at this point, but Calloway Military School's training was rigorous enough that endurance was built up quickly.  
  
"I think that might be more likely," Baxter said. "Those girls are _weird_. They're not even human! We've been playing against them for years, and I still can't believe that they're actually monsters instead of humans!"  
  
"Tell me about it," Miguel muttered. Miguel was doing push-ups a few feet away from Tug. "I still remember that werewolf girl Winnie flipping her whole body when we were supposed to flip a coin."  
  
"And I still remember that vampire girl Sybella turning into a bat to hit a ball," Tug reminded everyone. "I thought I was going batty at the time."  
  
Everyone chuckled at the joke.  
  
"Yeah, and remember when the ghost girl Phantasma went _through_ the net?" Jamal asked rhetorically.  
  
That's when Colonel Calloway came onto the scene. He was dressed in uniform, as he always was. Also, as always, he walked with the dignified and brisk pace of a colonel. He looked like a man who knew exactly what what on his agenda at all times, with no room for doubt.  
  
"It's good to see you're practicing, cadets," Colonel Calloway said with a tone of superiority.  
  
Immediately the cadets all snapped to attention and saluted the colonel.  
  
"At ease, men," Colonel Calloway said impatiently, and the boys relaxed. "Now remember, it's been several years since your humiliating loss at volleyball. We've beaten them a few times since, but now we're even more sure to win because I've changed the sport to dodgeball. Also, I keep hearing rumors that during that fateful volleyball day, you tried to _cheat_ to win. Well, since I advocate winning at all costs, I'll overlook the rumors. Do _not_ let me find out they're true, though."  
  
The boys nodded, although a quick look of recognition and fear passed through their faces that Calloway didn't see. Of course, they had indeed tried to cheat. How Calloway didn't see the friggin' _jet pack_ was totally beyond them, but they were relieved for small miracles.  
  
"Now anyway, I want you to keep practicing," Calloway continued. "At all costs _do not lose_ just because you're playing a new sport! Remember, it's a contact sport, and boys always triumph in contact sports!"  
  
Of course this was a sexist idea. Remember, readers, I told you before that this school had old ways.  
  
"One last thing: luckily for you, a few of the girls won't be able to play," Calloway continued. "The Phantom's daughter, Phantasma, can't play dodgeball because she has a huge advantage: she's only solid when she wants to be. If she played, the ball would simply pass through her unless she willed it differently. Dracula's daughter, Sybella, can't play dodgeball because she would just turn herself into a bat to make herself a smaller target. And finally, one of the students they gained since that fateful volleyball game---"  
  
But before the colonel could finish explaining why one of the relatively new arrivals couldn't play, his watch beeped at him. He quickly bent down to check it.  
  
"It seems that my appointment is coming up," he sighed. "I've got to be at my child's birthday party. I want you all to keep practicing, and then at sunset, be at the mess hall for dinner. Right, get to it!"  
  
With that, Colonel Calloway turned on his heel and strode off, leaving the boys to their training...  
  
***  
  
But now we must leave our dear rivals the Calloway cadets, and instead look somewhere close by, somewhere you never got a glimpse of in the Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School movie.  
  
We must instead look at a small town I will not give the dignity of mentioning it by name.  
  
Why won't I give it the dignity? Well, let us explore...  
  
You see, this town had its origins from the days the first European settlers colonized America centuries ago and selfishly drove out the Native Americans who by all rights were there first. It had started out as a few houses, and then had gradually grown into a town. Its citizens were workers by nature, never taking the lessons of the higher class.  
  
This town was populated by all sorts of skilled workers. There were carpenters, woodcutters, fishermen, and all sorts of people who made their living by hard work. This town had incidentally been against the colonies' independence from England, but when the colonies finally achieved their independence from England, this particular town switched their allegience to the new United States of America.  
  
This particular town enthusiastically supported James Monroe's doctrine of Manifest Destiny, which was partially responsible for the settlers robbing millions of Native Americans of their rightful homes where they had always lived, and putting the Native Americans on reservations with poor, useless land.  
  
This town had also enthusiastically supported slavery, by the way. Of course, this isn't a very good track record. But people change over time, isn't that correct?  
  
Not this town. This town bitterly opposed abolition, and then when it came time for the women to vote, this town bitterly opposed that as well. In fact, this town also advocated segregationism, and were horrified when blacks were integrated into the schools.  
  
But again, people change over time. Usually, towns that historically supported bigotry gradually progress to open-minded attitudes.  
  
This, however, was one of the only towns in the country that have never progressed at all.  
  
Why such a bleak description of this town? The answer lays in the _mindset_ and _mentality_ of the town. Its citizens had been raised throughout the centuries to believe that they are morally superior to everyone on the earth, and that they alone were the true exemplars of goodness. They were obsessed with morality, and had rigid personalities not open to new ideas. Actually, if you have ever seen "The Music Man" or "Footloose", you might get an idea as to the mindset of this town.  
  
Now I would like to stress to you that this town was not really bad at heart. They simply did not know any better. They honestly and truly believed that everyone who did not look like them or act like them was an agent of evil. One really would be more inclined to pity them than to hate them, for it was their stubbornness and lack of an open mind that caused them to be capable of bigotry.  
  
However, all of that is not as relevant as what I am about to tell you next. In the past year, a new mayor had been elected to the city. You see, I told you that this town was capable of bigotry. They are also capable of stereotyping, which means that they lump a group of people under certain characteristics.  
  
This particular man realized that this particular town honestly believed that all people with Southern accents were friendly, hospitable, and good leaders.  
  
So this man, to get himself elected, used his skills as an actor to change his voice to a Southern accent. Because this town naively believed that all people with Southern accents had _exactly_ the same qualities, they wasted no time during the mayoral elections to elect this man as leader.  
  
But this man, Orlando Xerxes by name, was not an ideal mayor, although the candidates didn't realize this. You see, Orlando had ambitions of his own that did not concern the welfare of the town. The town by this time had begun to realize that there was a school entirely for monsters nearby, and Orlando wanted to take advantage of this and the town's mentality.  
  
Orlando had a dark past. Although I will not spoil part of the fanfiction by telling you the full details, a monster had been responsible for a traumatic event in Orlando's life. He wanted revenge, and he wanted to use this town to further his own ends, without caring for their own needs.  
  
Although the town's mentality left something to be desired, they were _not_ without love and compassion -- for members of their own community and those who were like them. They had their own set of values -- hard work and committment being a couple of them, dedication and fidelity being others.  
  
But Orlando did not want to give the town more good points. He wanted to use the town's members to further his anti-monster ends.  
  
Right now, the townspeople were holding a meeting, over which Mayor Orlando Xerxes would be presiding. The meeting in question, as Orlando had planned by inserting subtle rumors into the town, was about the Grimwood Finishing School for Girls, or ghouls.  
  
The townspeople were in an uproar. They simply did not know what to do. Monsters were living in a school close by them, and they saw them as a threat.  
  
To start the meeting, Mayor Orlando Xerxes pounded a gavel similar to the sort that judges use, and called order.  
  
Immediately, the townspeople began to settle down, and they waited for the mayor to speak.  
  
"Greetings, my fellow citizens!" Orlando boomed in a commanding voice, once again using a fake Southern accent to take advantage of the town's naivete about people with Southern accents. Actually, if you were to watch a few recent episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh, and listened to the voice of Leichter, one of the Big Five, you should know that Orlando's fake southern accent and voice sounded _exactly_ the same as the aforementioned Leichter.  
  
"You are all gathered here today because there is a threat to this fine, upstanding town!" Orlando continued. "As you know, there is an abomination on the face of this country -- the Grimwood Finishing School for Girls! But it should read the Grimwood Finishing School for Devils!"  
  
"Here, here!" someone shouted.  
  
"Ostensibly, it is a school where young female monsters learn the aspects of life and monster culture," Orlando said. "But we know the truth, for we have been blessed with the moral character that is so absent from most of this country! We know that behind the innocent school exterior, lurks the absolute worst that abominations of nature had to offer! Think of what will happen once these Grimwood _ghouls_ graduate! They will hide from humans as they always due, and that is when they will strike!"  
  
The townspeople nodded in agreement.  
  
"Imagine one day that _you_--" and here Orlando pointed at a random fisherman in the crowd "--are walking innocently along the street one day, and you have just finished a hard day's work at the lake, after a run of bad luck in which you have not caught a single fish. You want to come home, and you want to just curl up in your bed and take a nice, long, nap. You deserve it, after your bad day! But waiting for you is _not_ your wife. Instead, waiting for you is a sultry vampire girl, beguiling as a devil, and poor you, in your weak, tired state, are unable to resist! The vampire girl comes closer to you, and she seduces you!"  
  
The fisherman gasped at this point.  
  
"But no, she's not satisfied with that!" Orlando roared. "She proceeds to bite your neck, and suck out your blood! She then leaves you like that, pitifully weakened, where you will die of blood loss! _Do you want this to happen to you, my good fisherman_?!"  
  
The fisherman shook his head "no" emphatically.  
  
"Or how about you?" Orlando continued, pointing at a random carpenter. "Imagine that one day, you are sitting at home with your kids, happily reading them bedtime stories, innocent ones such as See Spot Run or Run Jane Run. Imagine your kids happily go to sleep, and you, my good friend, are still up, making sure that your house is safe, locking the doors. You then trudge off to your bed, curling up for a nice nap. But there, in your room, is a ghost girl! She possesses your body, and causes your body to do unspeakable things, such as copulating with animals or stealing from the town treasury! _Do you want this to happen to you, my good carpenter_?!"  
  
The carpenter shook his head "no" emphatically.  
  
"I thought not," said Orlando smugly. "But the imaginary incidents I have just described, and so many others, could one day happen when those monsters graduate and become full-fledged! Why do we call them monsters? Not only for how they look, but because they are a threat, by their very nature, to our wonderful way of life! We work hard in this town, and we will not allow horrible freaks of nature to ruin us! We will stand strong against this threat!"  
  
By now the townspeople were beginning to cheer. But Orlando wasn't finished.  
  
"But we can't eradicate them all at once," Orlando continued. "That would cause a fuss. It would be sure to be noticed."  
  
"Then how are we supposed to fight them?" asked one middle-aged woman. "I'm a good, hard-working women with two children! I don't want their minds to be corrupted by the filth of the Grimwood Finishing School for Girls! Can't we judge torch the school down? What is stopping us?"  
  
"What is stopping us, my good lady," Orlando explained with a smile on his face, "is that if we do this the wrong way, other towns will view us as bigots, instead of the righteous and _chosen_ people we truly are! No, we must be stealthy. We must get them one at a time. And we shall start by interfering with their upcoming dodgeball game versus the Calloway Military School!"  
  
"How, exactly, do we interfere with the dodgeball game? And what are we supposed to do afterwards?" asked a confused librarian woman.  
  
Orlando's smile left his face. Then, he began to explain to the townspeople exactly what they were supposed to do, and all the while, he was thinking not of the townspeople's well-being, but of his own need for revenge, which he believed would soon be his...and it would be so very sweet...  
  
***  
  
To be continued...  
  
***  
  
Now that I've gotten the rivals and villains introduced, you might be thinking that I should hurry up and introduce the Grimwood Girls, especially the new ones. I promise, the next chapter will introduce them. The next chapter will also have Shaggy, Velma, Daphne, Freddy, and of course, **Scooby-Doo** back into play. E-mail all questions and comments to bleifer@comcast.net 


	3. Grimwood Girls Are Back

Ghoul School -- Revisited: Grimwood Girls Are Back  
  
by Martial Arts Master  
  
Scooby-Doo and all related characters copyrighted by Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network. However, I need to add a little note: at the very end of the "Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School" movie, there were some new students introduced to Grimwood, which caused Scooby and Shaggy to run out. These students were a Martian's daughter, the daughter of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and the daughter of Godzilla. I made up the names for them, for they will be appearing in this fic. This fanfic takes place after the "Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School" movie, and it also takes place a long time after Scrappy-Doo left the gang. I have finally decided that I will _not_ allow the events of the live-action movie to happen, because they treated Scrappy-Doo like dirt, and made him into something that he wasn't in the original series that he appeared in. Anyway, here, you finally get to meet the Grimwood Girls themselves, especially the new ones. Now, on with the fic!  
  
Our heroes were cruising along towards the Grimwood Finishing School for Girls in their Mystery Machine. Fred, Daphne, and Velma were looking forward to meeting the girl ghouls, and Shaggy and Scooby were, of course, looking forward to meeting them _again_.  
  
Briefly, they thought of their departed friend, Scrappy-Doo. Scrappy-Doo was a little puppy at the time of his membership in the gang, and he had been Scooby-Doo's nephew. Scrappy-Doo had been slightly obnoxious, and very brave. He believed his uncle Scooby to be infallible, and thus idolized him.  
  
Scrappy had, however, eventually grown up, and had also eventually left the gang to pursue his own interests. He had recently joined a K-9 Police unit, and sometimes sent letters to the gang to inform them of his progress.  
  
"Shouldn't we be at the school by now, Shaggy?" Daphne asked, flipping her hair impatiently. She was still looking forward to meeting the so-called ghouls, and she was still skeptical about the idea.  
  
"Ro, re rill reed ro ro ra rittle rarther," Scooby-Doo replied calmly, actually meaning "No, we still need to go a little farther."  
  
Velma, meanwhile, was preparing a notepad and pencil for herself. If there really were monster girls that were basically harmless, think of all the stereotypes it could dispell! The word "monster" had negative connotations, such as "You monster! How could you do such a thing?" and "EEEEEK! It's a giant monster!"  
  
But the girls that Shaggy and Scooby spoke of so fondly could break those stereotypes if introduced to the world. Of course Velma only had the best of intentions. She wasn't like an advertising agent, who would probably use the girls as a money-making scheme.  
  
Fred was calmly driving the Mystery Machine, but he, too, had some level of excitement.  
  
Pretty soon, the gang noticed a small town to their right, and it was rustic-looking, a harkening to the days of yore. It was down a slight hill, and the whole town could be seen because the gang was not currently on the road leading to it.  
  
"Yeesh, what's that old place?" Daphne asked. "It looks like..._Salem_...or something."  
  
Velma gave her the name of the town, and then added, "That town doesn't have that great a reputation. The people are very hard-working, but they don't take kindly to those who are different. They have really bad attitudes about anyone who threatens the social order. Supposedly it's been like that for centuries, even back to the days before the colonies became independent states after the American Revolution."  
  
"Sounds like that's a place we'd never want to visit, considering we have a talking dog," Freddy joked, chuckling a little. "Scooby-Doo's about as different as they come."  
  
"Rhat's right!" Scooby-Doo added for good measure, actually meaning "That's right!"  
  
The gang then fell silent, and continued driving. The journey was pretty uneventful, although the scenery was interesting. Wild birds flitted about rapidly, and there were even a few deer at sporadic intervals. The trees were beginning to regain their leaves after a long winter, and here and there was a small stream or two.  
  
Then, rather abruptly, the scenery changed. The gang began, on their journey by vehicle, to come across whole fields of trees that were gnarled, crooked, and without leaves. Clouds began to cover the horizon, and the ground itself also seemed to have an air of jaggedness and crookedness around it.  
  
"Uh, who turned off the cheer?" Velma asked, looking around. "It's like we walked into the movie set of a horror movie."  
  
"Or the Twilight Zone," Fred added to the joke.  
  
"Nah, nah, you worry too much," Shaggy commented. "This just means we're really, really close. This area is deliberately kept gloomy because that's how the Grimwood Girls and Ms. Grimwood like it."  
  
Everyone else looked at Shaggy in astonishment.  
  
"Shaggy...for once in your entire life, you're not afraid of something spooky!" Fred exclaimed, turning his head to look at Shaggy. "Who are you and what have you done with the real Shaggy?"  
  
This last sentence was also meant as a joke, but Shaggy responded, "Oh he's right here, because he's been here before and doesn't have anymore reason to be frightened."  
  
Just then, there was a resounding **CRUNCH**, and something hit the Mystery Machine with a dreadful bang, causing it to jerk and stop abruptly, throwing the occupants back in their seats. There was a brief hiss, and then, no matter how hard Fred pressed the gas pedal, the Mystery Machine wouldn't move.  
  
After taking a moment to peer over the windshield, Fred realized that while he had been teasing Shaggy about his newfound confidence, he had not been paying attention, and had stupidly driven the Mystery Machine into a boulder that lay beside the road.  
  
Soon, this realization fell upon the rest of the gang as well, and a collective groan rose among them. They all reluctantly left the car, and upon doing so, Daphne expressed the respective sentiments of the gang by slapping Freddy in the face.  
  
"Are you nuts?!" Daphne shouted. "You never take your eyes off the road when you're driving! That's like...Driving 101...or something!"  
  
"I'm sorry, guys," moaned Fred, hanging his head in shame. After he opened the front hood of the Mystery Machine and looked at the engine, he assessed its condition by saying, "The engine's completely smashed. It looks like we're gonna have to hitch a ride to the Grimwood place."  
  
Shaggy, meanwhile, had been looking over the top of a hill that lay a bit in front of the gang by car terms, and he pointed out excitedly, "No we don't! I can see part of the roof right over that hill! If we hadn't crashed we would've been right there! All we have to do is walk, and we can call for help when our stay at Grimwood is finished!"  
  
At this, the gang cheered. Then, they began walking with renewed confidence. However, you must understand that things that look close by car can actually take a while if you're walking on foot, and thus it took our heroes half an hour to walk to the hill and then over it.  
  
However, the walk was worth it, for there, in front of the gang, was the old Grimwood place, exactly as Shaggy and Scooby remembered it.  
  
The Grimwood Finishing School for Girls was colored dark and grey, and looked somewhat like the old manors one could sometimes see in horror films. Right next to it our heroes could see the Calloway Military School, which actually had good weather around it. But right now, they were focusing on the Grimwood Finishing School for Girls. The roof was made up of red shingles.  
  
Also, right outside the Grimwood school, near the moat, a very tall girl wearing a yellow shirt and green overalls could be seen _putting in_, rather than pulling out, weeds. This girl had black hair that was done straight up, and it had a white streak in it. She was also wearing brown shoes.  
  
Immediately, Shaggy and Scooby recognized this girl. It was Elsa Frankenteen, the daughter of Frankenstein's monster. She had been one of the original students whom Shaggy had taught as a gym teacher.  
  
"Hey, Elsa, ahoy there!" Shaggy called as our heroes began crossing the bridge that lay across the moat.  
  
Elsa stopped what she was doing and turned around to respond. She didn't recognize Fred, Daphne, and Velma of course, but Shaggy and Scooby were familiar.  
  
"Shaggy! Scooby!" she shouted, running over to the middle of the bridge. To Daphne it sounded like Elsa wasn't very bright, for her voice reminded one of the sort of stupid person who might become a sidekick for a villain. However, she knew of course that you shouldn't judge people by voices.  
  
"Hey, great to see you, Elsa!" Shaggy replied, grinning and hugging her. "How've you students been since I was away?"  
  
"Pretty good, Coach," Elsa replied. When Shaggy and Scooby had been gym teachers at the Grimwood Finishing School for Girls, she had the habit of calling Shaggy "Coach".  
  
"My name is Fred Jones, and this is Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley," Fred said, shaking Elsa's hand. "Did Ms. Grimwood tell you we'd be coming."  
  
"Yeah," Elsa responded. "Nice to meet you. I was just out here putting weeds in the garden for our new moat monster to eat."  
  
At this, Shaggy gulped audibly.  
  
"M-m-m-m-m-moat m-m-m-m-m-monster?" Shaggy stuttered. Scooby, as usual, echoed him.  
  
"Oh, he doesn't come out unless there's trouble or it's feeding time," Elsa responded, waving nonchalantly.  
  
"Rou've rotten a rot raller, Elsa," Scooby commented, actually meaning "You've gotten a lot taller, Elsa."  
  
"Yeah, that's because I'm older, duh," Elsa snapped, then grinned to show she was joking. "Hey, come inside, everyone, and let the others get to know you new people."  
  
With that, Elsa rushed inside. Our heroes shrugged, and then followed.  
  
Inside the Grimwood Finishing School for Girls was just as creepy as the outside. It appeared to have been redecorated since the last time Shaggy and Scooby were there. There were fake skeletons hanging on the walls, and a much larger amount of cobwebs than last time.  
  
Fred, Daphne, and Velma were looking around nervously, while Shaggy and Scooby were _for once_ the bravest members of the group, having been here before.  
  
"It's kinda spooky in here," Daphne muttered.  
  
"It's spooky _every_ supposedly haunted place we go to, Daphne," Velma retorted. "Yet they all turn out not to be haunted at all. You're just creeped out because this place actually houses monsters, albeit nice ones."  
  
The gang continued exploring, led by Elsa. Suddenly, there was a huge shriek throughout the place, causing our heroes to jump, startled. The shriek sounded inhuman, like someone dying slowly...and _painfully_.  
  
"That does it! I want out!" Daphne screamed.  
  
Elsa frowned.  
  
"Phantasma, stop playing practical jokes!" she shouted.  
  
A strange sight for Fred, Daphne, and Velma materialized. It looked like a teenage girl, except she was see-through, obviously a ghost. She had white hair with a blue stripe through it, and was wearing entirely blue clothes only a slightly darker shade of blue than her skin. She was laughing to herself, obviously pleased at having got a reaction out of our heroes.  
  
"Sorry, but you should've seen the looks on your faces!" she said, and then laughed.  
  
Her laugh was as strange a sight as her body was. It was _unusually_ high, for example, and it alternated from high to low and back to high again.  
  
"Do that again, and I'm going to tell Ms. Grimwood," Elsa warned Phantasma. "These are the guests we've been expecting. Shaggy and Scooby are back, and they've brought friends this time."  
  
"Well duh, of course they're the guests!" Phantasma replied. "That was obvious because no other humans besides Ms. Grimwood or Colonel Calloway even come in here. Hey Shaggy, Scooby, welcome back to the school! Too bad you can't be our gym teachers again, we've got a strict one this time. I miss your relaxed style."  
  
"Well, like they say, no pain, no gain," Fred commented, extending a hand. "Hello there. You must be Phantasma, judging by Elsa calling you that. My name is Fred Jones, and these are my friends Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley."  
  
"Nice to meet you, but you can just call me Phanty if you want," Phantasma said, making herself physical and shaking Fred's hand.  
  
"How interesting!" Velma exclaimed, writing something in her notebook. "A ghost that can make herself physical and back to immaterial again."  
  
"Well, two down...where are the other three, and where are the new ones I've heard about?" Shaggy asked.  
  
Before Elsa or Phantasma could say anything, a furry form toppled down the stairs with a loud **crash**. She appeared to be fine, but she was wrestling with something in her paw. Her appearance was that of some cross between a girl and a wolf. She had frizzy orange hair, and she was wearing a dark blue dress, except that the sleeves of the dress had been cut off, leaving her furry arms bare. There was a light blue ribbon on the front of her dress.  
  
"Blasted thorn! I can't believe this!" she shouted. "I've been trying to get it out for the whole day! This is ridiculous! Werewolves are some of the fiercest creatures in this country and I can't even get rid of one lousy thorn!"  
  
"Oh dear, does it hurt?" Daphne asked, concerned.  
  
"Heck no, not that much, anyway," the werewolf girl replied. "Something like this would be really painful to a human, but to a werewolf like me it's more like an annoyance. Grrrrrrr, lousy, stupid---"  
  
"I think I know why you can't get it out," Daphne hypothesized, walking towards the werewolf girl. "The thorn appears to be small, and your fingers are much larger than normal humans', making them too big to grasp it. Let me help you with that."  
  
The werewolf girl was about to say something when Daphne grasped the thorn and pulled, eventually managing to take it out. The werewolf girl gave a gasp of pain at first, but then a sigh of relief.  
  
"I didn't need your help, but thanks anyway. My name's Winnie," said the werewolf girl, shaking Daphne's hand.  
  
"Happy to help, and my name's Daphne Blake, and these are my friends Fred Jones and Velma Dinkley," Daphne replied, chuckling. "You've already met Shaggy and Scooby."  
  
"Boy, have I ever!" Winnie exclaimed. "Hey Shaggy, Scooby, how've you been? It's been years since I've last seen you!" "Well, we haven't done too badly for ourselves," Shaggy said, grinning. "We've solved a lot more cases, although I haven't really done any more gym teaching since then."  
  
Meanwhile, Velma was taking more notes, saying to herself, "A Frankenstein's monster's daughter, a ghost, and a werewolf. This is great!"  
  
"You haven't seen anything yet," Phantasma commented.  
  
She then shouted at the top of her lungs, "Tanis!!! Our guests have arrived! Come and say hello!"  
  
In response to this, another girl came rushing towards the group. She was also rather unusual by human standards. This was because she was completely wrapped up in bandages, with not a trace of skin visible. Her eyes and mouth were still uncovered, enabling her to see and speak, respectively, and she was wearing a pink ribbon on top of her head.  
  
"Oh, Shaggy, Scooby, you're back!" Tanis exclaimed, hugging Scooby.  
  
"Reah, row are rou roing?" Scooby asked, actually meaning, "Yeah, how are you doing?"  
  
At this, Tanis frowned.  
  
"Our gym teacher's not as nice as you two were," Tanis grumbled. "Very strict."  
  
"Tanis, the new people are Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, and Velma Dinkley," Winnie told Tanis.  
  
"Nice to meet you," Tanis said politely, curtsying.  
  
"Tanis is the Mummy's daughter," Winnie explained to the confused Fred, Daphne, and Velma.  
  
"And last but not least, at least among the old students, there's me, Cybella," said a voice from the rafters of the Grimwood Finishing School for Girls.  
  
Everyone simultaneously looked up, and saw nothing but a small purple bat. She had a black nose, her skin was light purple, and her fur was dark purple, and she had purple wings.  
  
However, the bat flew down, landed on her feet, and there was a chiming sound, accompanied by a puff of purple smoke.  
  
When the smoke cleared, in place of the bat was a very tall girl. Her skin was light purple as the bat's had been, but she was wearing dark purple clothes, and she had red lips and fangs in her teeth.  
  
"I heard your names," Cybella said to Fred, Daphne, and Velma. "It's 'fangtastic' to meet you."  
  
Cybella then chuckled at her own joke.  
  
Velma took even more notes in her notebook.  
  
"What a coincidence that you came back at this particular year," Cybella said. At this point Fred noticed something odd. Her voice had an odd sound to it, as if it was asking you to go to bed with it. Fred assumed that this was the normal female vampire way, and didn't question it.  
  
"You see, this is my last year at Grimwood Finishing School for Girls, being the oldest one here," Cybella continued. "Once I finish this year, I'll be graduating, and becoming an apprentice vampire. Once I learn the vampire-specific skills, I will finally be a full-fledged vampire!"  
  
Shaggy clapped.  
  
"Congratulations, Cybella, for your future accomplishment," Shaggy told her. "But we were told there were some new students as well. I even remember seeing them, and they caused me to panic at the time."  
  
"Well, dinnertime's about to start," Tanis piped up. "Why don't you join us, and you'll meet the new students there?"  
  
"Great, I'm starved! I could eat the whole meal!" Shaggy exclaimed, rubbing his belly in anticipation.  
  
Scooby copied Shaggy, also being known to eat a lot.  
  
Eventually our heroes and the Grimwood Girls were led to the table by Ms. Grimwood herself ringing a bell, and they sat down. The dinner table was lavish, at least to Shaggy and Scooby, having not eaten there the last time they came. There was a white bedspread, and the table appeared to be made of wood designed a century ago. The new students followed after, and humans would have considered them as odd as they would have considered the rest of the girls.  
  
The first one was a tiny girl who looked like a Martian you might see in a horror flick, only much cuter. Her head was round and colored some cross between purple, pink, and magenta, and she was wearing a space helmet on her head, with fuel tanks attached to her back. To top it off, she was wearing a green space-suit.  
  
"This is Mary, a Martian's daughter," Cybella explained to everyone. "She's dressed like that because on Mars, the air is different than on Earth, so without the space suit and the fuel tanks her father sends to her every day, she wouldn't be able to breathe on this planet. She's actually here to study Earth culture for the other Martians on her planet. You see, in Martian culture, intelligence and knowledge are one of the highest priorities, and they place great value on them. The other priority in Martian culture is kindness, love, compassion, and empathy. You see, on our planet Earth, evolution dictated that to survive, creatures had to compete against each other in order to survive. But on Mars, evolution dictated that creatures had to _work together_ to survive. So when the Martian race evolved, they became a very sociable race, and so the emphases on kindness was necessary. So Mary, as a result, is very sweet, very smart, and very unassuming, as well."  
  
"Cybella, a little tip: next time you explain something, keep it short," Daphne advised Cybella. "You sounded boring just then."  
  
Cybella's eyes narrowed, but then she mentally decided to forgive Daphne, because Daphne was probably a direct person and most likely didn't realize that she'd just said something unkind.  
  
Meanwhile, Mary was blushing at Cybella's description of her, and Velma guessed that Cybella may have exaggerated a little bit due to some fondness she may have had for her, but Mary merely said, "It's nice to meet you all."  
  
The second new student looked like she was probably the daughter of Godzilla. Specifically, she looked like a huge lizard only a little shorter than Fred, and she was also obese. Her skin was colored white, she had tiny black scales running down her back, a couple of her teeth were visible despite her mouth being closed, she was wearing a pink ribbon on top of her head, and most noticeably, she was wearing a frilly pink ballerina's tutu.  
  
"This is Godzina, Godzilla's daughter," Winnie said, pointing a thumb at the aforementioned. "She's actually an exchange student from Japan, where Godzilla makes his home. She speaks perfect English---" here she mumbled "thank goodness", and continued, "---but she eats a _lot_, and she grows fast, too. Ms. Grimwood explained to us before you came that this was because she has to grow fast in order to reach Godzilla's size when she becomes an adult. That's a problem, because she'll eventually grow too big for the finishing school, and that will be years before she even graduates!"  
  
"Winnie!" scolded Ms. Grimwood's voice, as Ms. Grimwood finally arrived.  
  
Ms. Grimwood looked very big-boned, and she had curly black hair partially hidden by a red headdress. She was wearing pink all over her body, and red high-heeled shoes. Her voice had an aristocratic accent.  
  
"Winnie," she continued as she sat down at the dinner table, "when you introduce someone, you don't talk about their problems right off the bat! Didn't I teach you good manners? Honestly, if you weren't a werewolf and naturally this way, I'd call you uncivilized!"  
  
Winnie grumbled but didn't say anything.  
  
"Oh, I don't mind," Godzina spoke up for the first time. She had a loud, boistrous voice, and very deep for a little girl. "I keep telling them I could sleep outside when that happens, but they won't hear of it. Anyway, let's stop talking and start _eating_!"  
  
"A girl after my own heart!" Shaggy said admiringly, ruffling Godzina's black scales from his seat, which happened to be next to her. Probably his comment was in reference to his own love of food.  
  
"Oh, but first we need to introduce the final new student, Goonie," Tanis said, pointing to the third and last new student.  
  
This particular girl ghoul looked like the daughter of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. She had a red bow on her head, and her skin was brownish-orange colored. She had no hair on her head, and she was wearing a brown full-body loincloth similar to the kind a caveman might have worn back in the days of the Neanderthal or the Cro-Magnon. She also had gills on her neck _and_ a mouth on her face, suggesting that she was capable of breathing both on land and in the water. What was most unusual about her, however, was that her gaze was unfocused, and her face generally looked like she was out-of-touch with reality.  
  
"This is Goonie, the Creature from the Black Lagoon's daughter," Tanis commented. "She can live both underwater and on land, so naturally she's the best swimmer out of all of us. Whenever we do swimming, our gym teacher always praises her on her ability. Unfortunately, she's not so great at everything else, because she's mentally disabled. All of us have to help her out at times, because she sometimes loses touch with reality. We don't consider it a problem, though, because she's willing to listen and she's really nice to boot."  
  
The idea of a monster that was mentally disabled caused Velma to go into a laughing fit. This was a _big_ mistake, because everyone else glared at her, thinking that she was making fun of Goonie.  
  
She said "sorry" in a meek voice, and after a while, they forgot about it.  
  
"All right, now let's start the meal!" Ms. Grimwood said enthusiastically.  
  
Everyone began eating immediately. The meal consisted of a whole collection of foods. There were all kinds of meat, assortments of vegetables, fruits, and even a stray dairy product or two like cheese or milk.  
  
Shaggy, Scooby, and Godzina were eating the most, obviously. Phantasma was eating the least. Ghosts didn't need to eat, she would later explain, because they weren't technically alive and therefore did not suffer hunger. They only ate at all because they enjoyed the sensation of taste.  
  
There also was a humorous incident where Tanis reached for the same food as Winnie did at the same time, and Winnie accidentally bit down on the loose end of Tanis's wrappings, but nothing came of it.  
  
Eventually, the meal was finished, and everyone sighed in contentment.  
  
"Delicious as usual, Ms. Grimwood," Tanis told the headmistress.  
  
"Why thank you, Tanis," Ms. Grimwood said, smiling, patting Tanis's head. Then she said, "Now, bedtime, everyone!"  
  
The students all gasped.  
  
"But bedtime's usually not for another hour after dinner!" Winnie protested. "Why are we going to bed so early?"  
  
"Because tomorrow, your gym teacher will be giving you the hardest training tests yet," Ms. Grimwood explained. "That's because he wants to get you in tip-top shape for the day after tomorrow. And guess what happens the day after tomorrow?"  
  
"The dodgeball game with Calloway Military School!" the Grimwood students all cheered.  
  
"Correct, now, bed, everyone," Ms. Grimwood called, clapping her hands together for emphasis.  
  
The students reluctantly trudged off to bed.  
  
"You adults and the dog can stay up late if you want," Ms. Grimwood told the gang.  
  
"Actually, we're kind of tired ourselves after all our driving," Fred explained, speaking for the group. "We'll be headed off to bed, too."  
  
"Excellent, then tomorrow you can be wide awake to watch the students in their training, and maybe interact with them for the day for more than just introductions," Ms. Grimwood finished, heading off to bed herself.  
  
"Wait, where's Matches, that little dragon you had last time Scooby and I were here? I haven't seen him the whole time we've been here," Shaggy asked.  
  
Ms. Grimwood stopped and turned.  
  
"Oh, Matches has been taking a nap. You can introduce Fred, Daphne, and Velma to him tomorrow," Ms. Grimwood commented, and then went into her bedroom.  
  
Shrugging, our heroes went into the guest bedroom with multiple beds, to be ready for a bright new day the next day...  
  
To be continued...  
  
E-mail all questions and comments to bleifercomcast.net. 


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